New Delhi/Raipur, Sep 10 (IANS): Chhattisgarh has adopted a novel way to overcome malnutrition in the Naxal-affected and tribal-dominated Kondagaon district. The administration has set up an egg production unit in the district so that children can get protein-rich food.
"Today children are getting five thousand eggs from here every day. Now a second unit will also be installed. Along with this, nutritious food is being prepared from locally available Ragi and Kodo," said Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel.
Some 220037 eggs and 35422 kg of coarse grains have been supplied to all Anganwadis in the district.
A WhatsApp group has been created for the eggs and grains to reach the children, a picture of the children being fed is posted in the group. This is monitored by the collector himself.
Kondagaon district, 80 km away from Bastar division, has been away from the mainstream of development due to the Naxal activities and tribal majority. In such a situation, there has been malnutrition and health related problems in the villages here.
As per the state government data about 37 percent children below the age of 5 years in the district were malnourished as of February 2019. The biggest challenge for the administration during the lockdown in the pandemic period was to control malnutrition.
District Collector Pushpendra Kumar Meena informed that 'Nangat Pila' (healthy child) project was started in June 2020 under the nutrition campaign. The Department of Women and Child Development has been appointed the nodal agency for the project. Baseline screening was started in the district in July 2020 to identify malnourished children, and 12,726 such children were identified.
Under the Chief Minister's Suposhan Abhiyan, a reduction of 15.73 percent in malnutrition was recorded in the district in July 2021 as compared to February 2019. The number of malnourished children in 2019 was 19,572, which came down to 11,440 in 2021.
In the fight against malnutrition, the government has appointed 1438 'Suposhan Mitra' where each nodal officer supervises a gram panchayat. 328 such nodal officers made 418 visits to monitor the programme. Collectors review the progress of this data base through monthly review meetings. The action plan for the next month is also decided in these meetings.